Piston packing ring



Sept. 2, 1952 w, MARIEN 2,609,260

PISTON PACKING RING Filed Feb. 23, 1950 FIG. 2.

FIG 4; /5' M z a 1 l/ I 7/" I INVENTORI 7 MELVIN W. MARIEN E I BY 4.01%

ATTORNEY.

Patented Sept. 2, 1952 iv i I :Me1vin-w.. Merien, .st. Louis, Mo.,eesi noi-, by Y :1 meme-assignments, to RamseyCox-poration, a3

- corpo at 1 f Application :ljebr uary23,195d;Seriallqoi45318"E" 1 toleims; (01. 309-45) My invention has-relation toimprovements in in connection with the accompanying -'dr'awihg, PistOIl packing rings and iS directed to both the inw'hic'hzf' 1 7 T Q1 individual ring construction, and the relative Figure 1' is a side'elev'ation of'a conventional pressure of the individual rings of the entire ring piston equipped with my improved piston-ring; arrangement in a single piston. v t p Figure 2is an enlarged vertical cross-section tak- In view of the great heat transmitted to the en itHe libel-2 of Figure '1 Figure' 3 is'anenhead of the piston by thecombustionchamber, large'd Side elevation of ac 'mp' e on ng e h'igh' uiiit pressure steel rings cannot be usedsaty i he pr n ipl s of my invention-, parts beisfa e yi the upp r ro f the iston, i P a eeiirFieu i 'l'f m en a e Oausef'o'fthe scufling'of the'steel surfacef "For cross-Section nFP PY-Bd ing fi this reasonjcompressionand blow by cannot? be to the egt ni 19 2.- eliminated or lessened close to the compression R. .'PR 9i h i wme p sen chamberwhere'it is most desirable to make the vee wee 's wnh Yilil i i12 vsu s QPVF-i correction. It is the practice, at the present time, 9 1%: 11 1? WQ'PQP r tqqY of iwhich are to attempt this-correction (with some results) 15 fi h' tiiil iih mYf1m -'9V t? l, -by placing high unit pressure rings in the lower ciy j e le iiil q ee iml ryq e w w hatg compression ring grooves. High unit pressure oil my copendmg QnS -B 14 53 (9W rings serve to control the oil flow over the cylinder Patem297114011111 (that it c9mprises cast! ironv element of the usual consti uction and a' spring 2o the:loss of compression cannotv be effectively preggia ggg5figgnggggg i iiil'itfiti i oitieftii firiti;fiiiiii ettestatte taty. out, practically, their entire circumference .to innow in use is the compound ring having both cast ,r ,tfiir y g ;j -i hglgiiioo and iron and steel elements. .However, a high presh-gam-stgthetsuiface, {the-cast r fi.i; t sure steel ring is not satisfactory as a compres- Contact; r 1. sion ringto prevent blow-by because the friction- Y f bfi p ns -a r Contact between the stfeel and cylinder ferred to the steel helical ring 2 is placed below produces scuifing and scoring in the more poorly the cast iron ring I which serves to shield the lubricated and hotter upper reaches of the cylmring 2 from the great heat at the top of the piston der.

However, in some instances this advantage is out- I have di c red that a compound me made weighed by the advantage of maintaining a tight up of both cast Ir and Steel elements m be seal between the piston ring and bottom of the Safely used in the pp r ring es with ring groove. Since the cast iron ring is machined p i y good results, prov d the Pressure of a much more intimate contact between it and the the steel element is P p y controlled so that ring groove (also machined) can be obtained than the steel element will j st fit snug y a t the between the helical ring (formed from a ribbon cy i er wall w e in action with suflieient p of steel, or flat wire) and the bottom of the ring sure only to maintain its seat on the wall during gr0ove Th point may appear of minor the rapid action of the piston. portance, but in view of the working clearance It is thus the object of the invention to provide that must be maintained between piston ring and a compound piston ring made up of both cast ring lands they become major matters for coniron and spring steel elements which will operate sideration. As compression ratios increase these in the top piston groove to eliminate blow-by problems become more serious. In the ring R the and compression loss, and at the same time will cast iron ring element I will bear with substannot injure the cylinder wall. tial pressure against the wall of the cylinder C It is arfurther object of the present invention while thesteel helical element 2 will merely exert to arrange the cast iron and steel rings, relative enough pressure against the cylinder C to contact to each other, so that they will reduce to a minitherewith entirely around its periphery.

.mum the amount of gas losses around the back In order to reduce the friction between the steel of the rings on the compression stroke. rings 2 and the cylinder wall C the narrow cylin- My improved ring also improves the lubrication der contacting edges of the rings R are plated at the top of the cylinder, as will be better apparwith chromium layers 6, 6 (shown enlarged, Figent from a detailed description of the invention ure 4). This anti-friction surface coupled with of the rings to take advantage of theconstrucl-v tional feature for obtaining a maximum compr sion seal. I y .f v

The advantages of my invention linay be summed up as follows:

1. The helical spring steelring is gapless and 4 cylinder wall of the engine and thereby prevent blow-by, and a spring steel helical element juxtaposed to the cast iron element, said helical element having a negligible inherent radial tension merely to exert sufiicient pressure against the engine cylinder wall to maintain circumferential contact therewith and the cylinder contacting fj'surface ofithqhelical elementliavingga thin coat- -ing of ehroinium; 3

3. In combination with an internal combustion engine, a piston ring comprising a cast iron split serves to seal the gap in the casti'ron ring to prevent blow-by.

2. Light unit pressurein top groove avoids ring scufling and cylinder wall scoring.

'3. The steel ring maintains contact withfoylin- :der Pw-all essentially through its circularity (due to helicalwinding-yand not pressure.

=4. Helicalring is :notsubject to collapse because woundvina-plurality of resilient turns.

2 -lviaximum,cornpressi onseal with a'minimum runit'ringpressure. tp ;,fi. Reducing theheatingefiect on the ringby reducing the frictional resistance between the ring and the cylinder wall, 7 V .y Having described my invention l claim:

l. in-combination with. ansinternal combustion ;engine,,.a;piston ring comprising a cast iron split annular element having an i inherent radial tension. ;to. exert substantial pressure against the cylinder wall of the engine and thereby prevent blow by, andiaspring steel. helical element juxta- .posed to the ica-st iron element, ,said helicalelement having a negligibleinherent radial tension v merely to exert sufficient pressure against ,the engine .cylinder v vvall .to maintain circumferential contact therewith; {said helicallelementbeing disposed abovethe cast ironelement. V

2. Incombination ,with an internal combustion engine, -apiston ring comprising a cast ironsplit annular element having an inherent radial tension torexert substantial pressure against the annular element having an inherent radial tension to exert substantial pressure against the fcylinder'wall ofs'the jengine, and a spring element coiled in a gplur-ality of turns from a fiat ribbon dfst'ee'L said spring element having a negligible radial tension merely to exert sufiicient pressure against the engine cylinder to maintain circumfere'n'tial-contact therewith and the cylinder contacting surface of the helical element being coated -with-a nonferrous'metal havinga lowcoefiicient'ofafriction. V

4.5111 an internal combustion engine f-havinga 'cylinder and a piston operating thereon, said piston having a ring'groove, a two element piston ring in said groove, one of said elementscomprising'a split cast iron annulus, and the-other. element comprising a spring steel-helical ring of negligible radial pressure disposed between the (cast iron ring andthe upper-land of the ring groove, the cylinder contacting surface ofthe helicalr'ing having a'coating of chromium.

' r ;:MELVIN-'W.MARIEN.

V 1REFERENCESCITED The following'references are of record in the file of this patent: 1

UNITED STATES PA'IEITTS Number Name 'Date 2,148,997 Phillips Feb. 28,1939 2,269,763 .Grant Jan. 13, "1942 "2,287,884 Jominy JuneSll, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS 7 Number Country Date 281,545 Great Britain of 192': 

